Severe Weather Awareness Week

Judge Hebert presents Danny Jan with a Severe Weather Awareness Proclamation

Each year, the National Weather Service, the Governor’s Division of Emergency Management, local officials and emergency managers throughout Texas join together in a public awareness campaign to prepare for severe weather events. Today, the Fort Bend County Commissioners Court declared February 24-March 1, 2008 as Severe Weather Awareness Week, and urged citizens to prepare for tornadoes and storms that historically threaten our County during the Spring.

While presenting the Severe Weather Awareness Proclamation to Danny Jan, the County’s Assistant Emergency Management Coordinator, Hebert stated, “this Proclamation serves a reminder that Fort Bend County is in an area that experiences a variety of threatening weather, including tornadoes and hurricanes.  It  is important that County residents learn how they can prepare for bad weather and reduce risks for their families and their property.”

The goal of Severe Weather Awareness Week is not only to educate new residents and new generations about the dangers of Texas weather, but also to remind our residents to update their emergency plans, double check emergency supply kits and to be prepared for tornadoes, floods, hail, straight-line windstorms and other potentially dangerous events.

While dangerous storms can strike at any time of year, March, April and May bring the greatest potential for violent weather events in Texas, including damaging thunderstorms, hail storms, straight-line winds, tornadoes and flooding. According to the National Weather Service, Texas leads the nation with an average of 139 tornado strikes per year and often suffers the highest resulting death toll of any other state. Additionally, Texas endures the second-highest level of lightning fatalities and often leads in the number of flash flood deaths per year. A majority of these victims suffer due to failure to take proper precautions in such emergencies.

Jeff Braun, the County’s Emergency Management Coordinator notes that many people don’t think damaging weather events will happen to them and thus, they fail to prepare adequately.  Braun says, “being prepared can be as simple as getting together items like food, bottled water, medicines, a flashlight, and a weather radio.  I advise individuals to get ready for threatening conditions instead of assuming that any problems will happen to someone else.”

It is the goal  of the County to keep our citizens and communities safe and to raise awareness of the continuing dangers of severe weather events in our region.  Severe Weather Awareness Week materials for 2008 are available on the Governor’s Division of Emergency Management Web page at http://www.txdps.state.tx.us.   Braun notes that additional information can be found at the County’s Web Site at the link for Emergency Management.  For those who want to become advanced in readiness activities, he suggests registering for the Community Emergency Response Team training facilitated by the County’s Office of Emergency Management.